Consortium MBA Admissions Committee Interview #2 Available Online

Thank you to Consortium representatives for another outstanding Q&A! As always, the Consortium team and partnering school reps offered loads of insight into the Consortium admissions process and the ways in which the individual programs support the Consortium mission. See the below excerpt for more on this:

Linda Abraham: Elva asks, “What percentage of your students in each of your programs are Consortium students? How does your program help candidates live up to the mission of the Consortium?”

Allison Jesse: Okay, I’d like to start with the mission part because I think in terms of the Consortium’s mission, we have core values at our particular school, UNC Kenan-Flagler, and I’m sure many of my colleagues can also speak to something similar at their business school. Leadership, integrity, teamwork, excellence, all of these things mirror what the Consortium is all about….in terms of Consortium members, it’s about 7%.

Cindy Jennings Millette: Well, I certainly agree with what Allison said. The culture in business school, definitely being able to kind of give back in that leadership experience and team skills and all that, definitely melds really well with what the Consortium has. And we also have a culture at Berkeley, we have four defining principles, one being, “Beyond Yourself” and “Student Always,” and I think both of those really do mirror what the Consortium mission is. Right now, we have 20 students in each class that are Consortium members, and I do think that what’s really great is we see a lot of these people in different roles throughout the leadership on campus, including in our MBA association, so that’s someone who’s a Vice President of, Admissions, and Student Services, and all of that. And then also in the different clubs, the industry-focused clubs, you just see students being very involved, as we see a lot of our students being involved, and that kind of drive to give back you definitely see throughout the community.

Jon Fuller: So, our MBA class each year is about 500 students, give or take. And this year, we have about 45 Consortium students….So not quite 10%, 8 — 9%…So it’s a very healthy number, and it’s definitely a presence that’s well-known and well-regarded on campus, and very similar to what Cindy was saying. Instead of…”How does your program help candidates?” It’s really how do our students help candidates live up to the mission? Because they really hold one another accountable. We have a really strong and connected culture between MBA 1s and MBA 2s, which I won’t go so far as to say is unique to Ross, but it always surprises me as to just how well-enmeshed they are with one another.
And so the MBA 2s really take the role, in saying, “Hey, you know, we have this fine tradition here at Ross of not being passive individuals in our MBA experience, and taking on those leadership roles, and really stepping up to the opportunity.” And sort of demonstrate the mission by living it, and demonstrating it to others by their actions and the ways that they’re involved and the ways that they try to educate their classmates who come from, not just other U.S. backgrounds where they may have had more or less engagement, or opportunity to experience a diverse environment, but also with our international students where you really might have a monolithic culture, which is really kind of the antithesis of what you find here in the United States. So they’re not just engaged with the U.S. students, but also, it’s a great opportunity to demonstrate that activity or that perspective to our international students as well.

Rabia Ahmed: Sure, so I think one of the really nice things about the Consortium, in general, is that during OP, as Rebecca mentioned, the entire Consortium family gets to come together, and so you meet not only the students that are going to be in your class, but also in all of the other Consortium schools, and you spend the whole week together. And I think through that, and just being part of that, and knowing that all of these students are agreeing to meet the mission of the Consortium, as a requisite to become a member of the organization, there really is such a strong sense of community among that group and population, and I know a number of our students, the students at Stern always talk about how they met with Consortium students at other schools, and went on ski trips with them or vacations, or met them at case competitions. So as a student in any of the Consortium schools, there’s definitely a great community just among all of us. And that’s why we enjoy doing these chats together, and recruiting together on the road….But at Stern part of our core values really is the idea of a collaborative community, and then also this idea of IQ plus EQ that really enables students to hold each other accountable to what the mission of our school is as it relates to their own personal mission. And the clubs we have on campus, not only do they help build the community, but also bring in other members of the broader Stern community – the second-year students, alumni, undergraduate students – to work on a number of different projects, whether they’re service projects, giving back to the community, just broadening the mission of business education across New York City. There really is just a very strong culture of that within our program. And our alumni are a really big part of that, we have an association of Hispanic and Black business students, which most, if not all, Consortium students are very actively involved in. The alumni group also helps support the community while they’re prospective students, current students, and then when they join the broader alumni community. And the last question about the percentage of students, or the number of students on our campus that are part of the Consortium, for Stern, I believe this year, it was 12%.

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